wondering: declining deer #'s, so why the rifle season

[turkeyriver]

Don't blame the DNR. They tried to back off the "management" and politicians overrode their recommendations.

 

[Altiman94]

If we as hunters want to place blame, really it falls on us. We pulled the trigger and harvested all the deer. Regardless of how laws were changed to allow us to harvest more deer, we still shot them.

 

[SEIowaDeerslayer]

Don't blame the DNR. They tried to back off the "management" and politicians overrode their recommendations.

True, but about 5 years too late.

Make no mistake, the DNR bought into the deer overpopulation hype.

 

[Fishbonker]

True, but about 5 years too late.

Make no mistake, the DNR bought into the deer overpopulation hype.

I dunno, I don't think it was all "hype". Iowa was well over the "cultural carrying capacity". As a hunter I was happy with the deer numbers but as a consumer I was concerned with the numbers.

Now the pendulum has swung in the other direction. I'm sure somewhere somebody is calling it "underpopulation hype".